Indies Introduce Winter/Spring 2023 Titles

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Fiction

  • The New Life, Tom Crewe
    Scribner, 9781668000830, January 3, 2023 (Fiction)

    “Erotic, philosophical, inspiring. Tom Crewe brings 19th-century England to vibrant life. His creations — John, Henry, Edith, and their associates — are captivated by radical ideas about love, desire, art, and partnership. I savor historical fiction that celebrates the endurance of queer kinship and asserts our presence in a wider history. The New Life is a profound addition to that canon.”

    - Emerson Perper, Curious Iguana, Frederick, MD
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • The Survivalists, Kashana Cauley
    Soft Skull, 9781593767273, January 10, 2023 (Fiction)

    “As I read The Survivalists, I felt like I was transported from a grounded reality into a world bordering on the absurd. On the surface, it’s a story about folks prepping for a doomsday and a skeptic who attempts to understand them; on a deeper level, it asks how well we really know ourselves."

    - Laura Kendall, Second Flight Books, Lafayette, IN
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • Brutes, Dizz Tate
    Catapult, 9781646221677, February 7, 2023 (Fiction)

    “Brutes is not a run-of-the-mill coming of age story. Tate explores a young teen friend group in Florida in the aftermath of the disappearance of a local popular girl. The girls obsess over each detail of the search, following moms, peers, and a strange boy unafraid of swimming in the lake. Brutes feels like a story told in whispers between classes, capturing your attention all the way until the end."

    - Nikita Imafidon, Raven Book Store, Lawrence, KS
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • Endpapers, Jennifer Savran Kelly
    Algonquin Books, 9781643751849, February 7, 2023 (Fiction)

    “Melding a post-9/11 genderqueer artist’s coming-of-age story with a historical mystery of forbidden romance, Endpapers is an intimate, raw, and profoundly messy quest for authenticity, belonging, and empowerment.”

    - Alyssa Raymond, Copper Dog Books, Beverly, MA
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • The Applicant, Nazlı Koca
    Grove Press, 9780802160546, February 14, 2023 (Fiction)

    “Koca’s The Applicant hits like the first drag of an unfiltered cigarette: brash, bright, unapologetic and genuinely invigorating. Her narrator’s clear-eyed, deadpan assessment of living as a Turkish woman in present-day Berlin — its parties, its haphazardness, its bureaucratic impenetrability — is a welcome, necessary addition to the scene."

    - Camden Avery, The Booksmith, San Francisco, CA
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • Wandering Souls, Cecile Pin
    Henry Holt and Co., 9781250863461, March 21, 2023 (Fiction)

    “A compact and powerful novel about a family torn apart by immigration. Set in the 1970s, three siblings leave Vietnam with the dream of living in the United States. It’s a story of survival, family, ghosts, and love.”

    - Sara Rishforth, Roundabout Books, Bend, OR
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • Carmen and Grace, Melissa Coss Aquino
    William Morrow, 9780063159068, April 4, 2023 (Fiction)

    “I entered a whole new world I didn’t even know existed when I read this book — the world of women in an underground drug empire, mostly Latina, and all so much smarter and smoother than their male counterparts. Through sharp street dialogue and well-defined characters, I found myself wanting to root for their success; given their dangerous enterprise, I really wanted to see either main character escape unscathed. A terrific, fresh read that’s hard to put down.”

    - Tanya Mills, The Book Bungalow, St. George, UT
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • Saltwater Demands a Psalm: Poems, Kweku Abimbola
    Graywolf Press, 9781644452271, April 4, 2023 (Fiction)

    "Combining Ghanaian pictographs with the grave result of being Black in America, Abimbola honors the victims of police violence. Each person is renamed and reimagined, allowing them to be rebirthed. Abimbola incorporates both Black and African themes into an enchanting collection that is as sacred as a bowl of jollof rice. Saltwater Demands a Psalm is a call that you want to respond to with as much joy as reverence.”

    - Nikita Imafidon, Raven Book Store, Lawrence, KS
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • To Shape a Dragon's Breath, Moniquill Blackgoose
    Del Rey, 9780593498286, May 9, 2023 (Fiction)

    “Not only is it extremely rare to find such a unique tale of dragons and their human companions (set at a magic school, no less), but this phenomenal series opener gives us an alternative history of American colonization from an Indigenous perspective. Anequs is my new favorite hero!”

    - Alyssa Raymond, Copper Dog Books, Beverly, MA
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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Non-Fiction

  • Under the Henfluence, Tove Danovich
    Agate Surrey, 9781572843219, March 28, 2023 (Non-Fiction)

    “This book will make you look at chickens like you look at your beloved dogs and cats. Under the Henfluence is an important and compulsively readable book about the history of our partnership with chickens, and the cost that we pay — both personally speaking and environmentally speaking — when we forget to look after their welfare."

    - Jason Jefferies, Explore Booksellers, Aspen, CO
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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Middle Grade

  • The Pearl Hunter, Miya T. Beck
    Balzer + Bray, 9780063238190, February 7, 2023 (Middle Grade)

    “A stunning novel, inside and out. Kai and Kishi are twin pearl divers who do everything together, until the day Kishi is swallowed by a ghost whale. Kai is willing to risk everything to bring her twin back home. Kai is complex, imperfect, fierce, and loyal. The Pearl Hunter will capture your heart and leave you thinking.”

    - Brandi Stewart, Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, AZ
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • The Swifts, Beth Lincoln
    Dutton Books for Young Readers, 9780593533239, February 7, 2023 (Middle Grade)

    “A rambunctious and often hilarious mystery with a classic feel thanks to the rundown family house and quirky cast of characters. With a penchant for wordplay, treasure hunting, and odd traditions like comically accurate names, The Swifts are one family with a reunion you’ll never forget.”

    - Gabriella Crivilare, Prairie Fox Books, Ottawa, IL
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • Turtles of the Midnight Moon, María José Fitzgerald
    Knopf Books for Young Readers, 9780593488706, March 14, 2023 (Middle Grade)

    “Turtles of the Midnight Moon is magical in more ways than one, but the glimpse it offers into life in Honduras and the challenges environmentalists face there is all too real. Barana and Abby are a dedicated and inspiring team. A wonderful story about friendship, courage, and conservation.”

    - Gabriella Crivilare, Prairie Fox Books, Ottawa, IL
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • Jude Saves the World, Ronnie Riley
    Scholastic Press, 9781338855876, April 18, 2023 (Middle Grade)

    “Filled with courage and positivity, Jude is middle grade’s next Pride icon. I will be thinking about this story for years to come. Young readers and adults alike will find this book to be a fantastic resource in understanding queer and gender identities!”

    - Kaliisha Cole, Whitelam Books, Reading, MA
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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Young Adult

  • The Davenports, Krystal Marquis
    Dial Books, 9780593463338, January 31, 2023 (Young Adult)

    “In the fleeting moment of American history following Reconstruction, formerly enslaved people sought the ‘American Dream.’ This YA historical romance (with definite crossover appeal!) follows the wealthy Davenport family in 1910 Chicago Black high society. Varied perspectives across class lines flesh out their world fully. Believable, engaging, realistic — I haven't been able to stop talking about The Davenports!”

    - Tory Hall, Chapters Books & Gifts, Seward, NE
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • There Goes the Neighborhood, Jade Adia
    Disney-Hyperion, 9781368084321, March 7, 2023 (Young Adult)

    “Fun yet insightful, like if Scooby Doo and the gang had to solve a mystery in a neighborhood dealing with gentrification. I loved the initiative shown by the characters to do everything in their power to stay together.”

    - Earl Dizon, Green Bean Books, Portland, OR
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything, Justine Pucella Winans
    Clarion Books, 9780358721642, April 11, 2023 (Young Adult)

    “This book is the weird and wonderful queer-teen-investigates-money-laundering-bird-cult murder mystery I didn’t realize I was waiting for. Simultaneously hilarious and terrifying, sweet and wry."

    - Rebekah Shoaf, Boogie Down Books, Bronx, NY
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • I Kick and I Fly, Ruchira Gupta
    Scholastic Press, 9781338825091, April 18, 2023 (Young Adult)

    “An incredibly immersive, honest, yet YA-appropriate novel based on the real experiences of trafficked young women and those who work to free them. This incredible book manages to offer an uplifting and hopeful story without downplaying the incredibly harsh realities its characters, and the people who inspired them, face. A must-read.”

    - Emily Autenrieth, A Seat at the Table Books, Elk Grove, CA
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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  • Where You See Yourself, Claire Forrest
    Scholastic Press, 9781338813838, April 18, 2023 (Young Adult)

    “Utterly engrossing through and through. A fun senior year novel told through the eyes of a spunky teenager fighting for disability rights. I was rooting for Effie to find her voice, to get the guy, and to go for the future that would make her happy.”

    - Earl Dizon, Green Bean Books, Portland, OR
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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Young Adult Non-Fiction

  • Hidden Systems, Dan Nott
    Random House Graphic, 9781984896049, March 14, 2023 (Young Adult Non-Fiction)

    “Dan Nott takes one of the most innocuous and seemingly boring subjects — infrastructure — and demonstrates just how fascinating and vital it can be. Subtleties, entrenched inequalities, dis-functions, and outmoded processes are laid bare in a way that is awesome and interesting to read!”

    - Justin Colussy-Estes, Little Shop of Stories, Decatur, GA
    Additional blurb(s) available here

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